A $25,000 grant from the Hillman Foundation is fueling a new push to address one of Pittsburgh’s thorniest tech challenges: bringing global venture capital to local startups.

The Southwestern PA-based philanthropic funder awarded the grant to Alex Dalton, executive director of TiE’s Pittsburgh chapter, who is now compiling a list of promising companies to pitch to the broader organization’s global investor network.

“There’s lots of activities that you can do to activate local capital, and sure we will continue to try and do those things,” Dalton told Technical.ly, “but I do really think one of the big missing things for this ecosystem is the connection to the external markets in a meaningful way — a meaningful bridge for those founders who might not know how to reach it.” 

Alex Dalton (Courtesy)

TiE has more than 60 regional chapters in over a dozen countries, with some 4,000 charter members who are also active investors, according to Dalton. 

Pittsburgh founders have long cited access to external capital as a major barrier to building a successful startup in the ecosystem. While the $25,000 grant isn’t directly available as a source of funding for startups, Dalton says building out the network will ultimately lead to more connections and, eventually, investments for early-stage founders. 

Dalton plans to host outside and local TiE charter members during Pittsburgh’s Tech and StartUP week (Sept. 10 to 18), offering tours of local robotics labs and Discovery Day, as well as facilitating connections to local companies. 

“If we can build something around this and do it for the next 10 years, I think that is how you begin to move the needle for an ecosystem like Pittsburgh,” Dalton said.  

Dalton, a 2026 RealLIST Connector and startup founder himself, is partnering with the Pittsburgh Robotics Network on this project, which they’ve jointly dubbed “Robocon.” 

Early-stage robotics founders who would like to connect with TiE’s investor network can email Dalton at [email protected].

Founded in 1992, TiE has had a Pittsburgh presence since 2001. The organization played an active role in ecosystem building in Pittsburgh during the early 2000s, according to Dalton, but its influence has waned in recent years. 

Dalton said he’s been working to change that. Since assuming the executive director role in 2023, he’s been ramping up TiE Pittsburgh’s Open Mic Nights, an event series for local founders, researchers, students and technologists to give short talks about their work. 

“I really think that this [funding] is a signal from the Hillman Foundation, as well as the ecosystem,” Dalton said, “that TiE is ready to be impactful again.”